Got questions for Mayor Annise Parker? Ask ‘em here

At noon Thursday, we’ll host the second live chat of the year with Mayor Annise Parker. Now that the city’s budget has been passed, this will be an opportunity for you to ask your questions about Houston’s finances and operations.

She’ll answer questions left in CoverItLive during the chat on Thursday, or you can leave questions in the comments of this entry and she’ll draw from those, as well.

71 Responses

Mayor Parker: As a retiree from the City of Houston I have followed the discussion of public employee pensions with great interest. It was reported in the Chronicle a few weeks ago that Mr. Craig Mason, a city-appointed member of the pension board, calculated that 2011 retirees with 25 years service or more received more in retirement that their salary during employment. I have read nothing from Mr. Mason explaining his calculations and consider them unreliable after reading and re-reading the HMEPS guidebook. Could you offer some clarification as to how Mr. Mason came to his consclusions?

Why didn’t the City think about doing something to save the park trees in advance of the massive devastation instead of now trying to reforest the parks with these little whispy trees, which will not be fully grown until two more generations will have come and gone? These parks belong to our 2+ million citizens, who needed someone to oversee their parks protection. In my opinion that oversight was totally lacking and the person who was in charge of the parks department should be shown the door.

I can answer that one. It would have been too expensive. Most of the trees could not be reached by water trucks and would’ve had to be hand-watered. Trees drink hundreds of gallons of water a day. The cost to keep the trees alive would have bankrupted the city. Planting new trees and installing irrigation lines for every single one of them is much cheaper. The money just wasn’t available.

Amen! Gessner south of 59 is in horrible shape, too. Not to mention Bissonnet. The City has repeatedly been reminded of these problems, but nothing is done.
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Therefore I have two questions for the Mayor:
1: As Renew Houston ramps up, can we establish a policy that ties road repairs to the hierarchy set up in the Major Thoroughfare and Highway Plan? I.e: principal thoroughfares and thoroughfares are always repaired with concrete (never asphalt); and the City’s automatic asphalt pothole fixer truck is only used on local streets, and some less traficked collectors?
2: What can be done to improve commmunication and cooperation between PWE and neighborhood groups, as well as County and State leadership. Streets and Drainage in particular needs to cooperate far better than they do with Harris County Flood Control, TXDOT, the Management Districts, and HOAs and Civic Clubs.

When the City Libraries are not open even six days a week and the community centers are not open for cooling citizens,and our streets need permanent repairs then;
Why is the City replacing concrete paving at the ends of esplanades with expensive brick and;
Why is the City installing flower beds and irregation systems in esplanades
which have only minimal maintenence for exist flat grass and;
Why install landscaping which will require ever more and greater outlays for maintenence in the future?

Are you 100% sure that it is the city that is installing the flowers and trees along the esplanades? When I lived in Houston, most of this work was done by volunteer groups as well as HOAs and other subdivision organizations. This also goes for the brick laying.

If you are talking about such installations around the West Loop/Galleria area, commercial property owners in the area pay for those upgrades and the upgrades are installed by private contractors. Taxpayer dollars don’t go for those luxury items. I can certainly see where you arrived at the conclusion you did.

Actually, if clearing the backlog of rape kits is so important (it is), why would the mayor and council entrust its clearing to such an unstable and unrelated revenue stream as strip club patrons? Does the Mayor and CM Cohen have so little concern for rape victims that they cannot simply budget for the staff to clear this backlog? As taxpayers, we WILL pay for needed services. Public safety and justice are two of them. The strip club fee just looks petty and vindictive. We ARE better than this low road revenue stream.

Talk about the streets and drainage fee that was passed. How much money has it generated and which street repairs have been completed that were funded by it? Are there any projects underway that are being funded by the fee?

How is it that a city this size can leave 3 dead dogs on a major freeway for so long that they turn into stinky black patches of goo? I’m serious when I tell you that in a 1 mile strech from about Airline to Crosstimbers on the the incound side, there have been 3 full size dogs rotting in the Houston sun for the past month. The smell is terrible when you drive by them. Why can’t someone pick them and all the trash up?
Also, the tagging (spray painting) on the I-45 north freeway structures is getting way out of control. This is usually the first thing visitors see on the way in to our city. I hate that someone gets to see some jerk is painting “GOAT” everywhere.
Can you find a way to have this cleaned up anytime soon?

There’s a certain unwritten method to using 311 that I’ll put in writing here.
It’s this – always email (never call) 311. Address is 311@houstontx.gov . Attach photos of the problem, and a detailed location. CC your City Councilperson and if you have their contacts, their chief of staff their constituent liasion as well.
This way almost always gets a favorable response.
I’m not the Mayor nor do I work for her. This is how I used to do it as a Super Neighborhood President – that’s all.

We recently were denied a permit to add some additional carport structures to an existing site at West Sam Houston and Bissonnet for failure to provide an “analysis of impervious cover”. The plan reviewer stated that this was a new edict by the Mayor for all new projects in the City of Houston. Is this a true statement by the reviewer??

Our project in no way affects the impervious cover on the site and we would have to hire a surveyor to provide such an analysis. This seems like an unnecessary way to add costs to similar projects where no modifications create drainage or other problems.

Does the Mayor in fact have the right or power to declare such an edict???

All you have to do is say that impervious cover will not be increased because the covers are being placed over impervious concrete. Therefore, no additional impervious cover is created. That of course is assuming that you covers are over concrete that was correctly permitted. If there isn’t concrete already there, or it was placed without a permit, you need to hire an engineer before you get yourself into more trouble.

Mayor Parker: How can you justify taxpayer-funded junkets to foreign countries to promote international trade when we have a huge backlog of rape kits in need of examination? So many that the City Council has imposed a tax on certain businesses to supposedly pay for it? Getting rapists off the street and protecting our women and children is far more important to me and the majority of Houstonians than better trade relations with Brazil. Why is this not a priority in the city budget?

Mayor, do you believe an ELECTED city of houston official should recieve a pension ? You voted FOR all current pension plans while you were an at large counsil member during Lee. P. Browns. tenure as mayor, please explain. Will you release your current pension numbers/amounts ?

What plans are in place for emergency services in my part of town? I live in the Bissonnet/Dairy Ashford area. We are really close to Ft. Bend County and maybe that’s why we are forgotten? There is no cooling center in our area. Also, after Ike, there were no shelters close by, no cooling centers, no trucks full of mre’s and water, etc. in our area. There are many of us senior citizens in this area and for sure we need help but also others.

You campaigned for your first term as mayor and stated in debate that you could solve Houston’s flooding problem as you helped to solve the flooding problem in the Hospital District. Now that we all have been paying a “drainage fee” for months as the City of Houston’s solution to our flooding problem responding to the citizens outcry from the “April 2009 Flood.” Where is my “fee money” going and how are you overseeing progress on solving our flooding problem?

The Ainbinder (Walmart) 380 was supposed to be about making the development better, with emphasis on sidewalks and trees. How do you explain the tree caliper inches on Yale Street decreasing by 75% as a result of this development. How do you explain zero trees surrounding the Walmart itself?

Mayor Parker: The City of Houston awarded a permit to Ainbinder’s construction crew to remove nine mature Live Oaks from Yale Street, just south of the Yale Street bridge. Although a total of 19 trees were removed from Yale Street, Ainbinder’s plans indicate that they will not replant trees on the majority of Yale or Koehler Streets. No street trees are specified around the entire Heights Walmart site. Why has the City of Houston not required street trees plantings around this enormous hardscape site, particularly considering $6,000,000 of public monies were awarded to this developer to “go beyond the minimum standard” development practices? How do you plan to rectify this?

In Fall of 2011, TxDOT downgraded the Yale Street bridge’s rating to just above that which requires closure of the bridge. It is one of the worst bridges in Texas. The City performed it’s own study in May 2012, but has not yet released the findings. CM Cohen’s office and all other City agencies are requiring the public submit a Public Information Request in order to review the findings. Why is this critical public safety information not being made available to the public? Did the City study consider projected impacts from the new feeders and retail developments?

Mayor Parker. With International flights coming into Hobby now, will the city ever do anything with the junk lining Broadway Boulevard? It is a major gateway into the city and it is an awful first impression. Can’t something be done to encourage redevelopment?

Another question pertaining to trees: why does the City not restrict new tree plantings under overhead wires to species that will remain short to medium height and require less pruning away from the wires over their lifetimes? The number of disfigured city-owned trees is significant because of this lack of direction from the City on trees planted on its own right-of-way.

Mayor Parker: For the new noise ordinance why cant the city just install this new ordinance only in residential neighborhoods where outside parties and loud music noises occur let them require permits and let the clubs and bars noise be measured by decibels from the Houston Police department that should crack down the 58000 complaints and if you do not like that idea, why not install entertainment districts?

A question I have for the mayor is why she thinks it is o.k to cut off someones water in the hot summer months if they are late making a payment because they are struggling to pay bills. Even if the water bill is only 30 days late.

Mayor, shouldn’t we consider decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana like Chicago just did? It would free up millions of dollars in taxpayers money and free up more time and resources from HPD. Maybe then you would have your pension money and leave HFD and HPD alone.

-Are you ever going to fix the roads in Montrose, they’re worse than Baghdad?
-Why are we shorting pension payments while we give free breakfast and lunch to people all summer and school year who already receive food stamps?
-In light of California’s ruling that you can’t give a group a right and then take it away, will Houston stop the smoking ban in bars and restraunts?
-What is Houston doing to curb illegal immigration and stop it’s sanctuary practices?
-Do you support Houston Council members leading the change of the soccer teams name from the founding year to Dynamo to appease?
-Why did you not come out against Jolanda Jones illegal behavior telling Democrats to not call the police?

1. Immigration enforcement is a federal matter.
2. The Mayor has to work with the Council; attacking individual council members is beneath the dignity of the office. If it wasn’t, she could attack Helena Brown and her obstructionist bul*&^%$. Flaky council members are best taken care of by the voters. Jolanda Jones didn’t get her third term partially because of the issue you raise. Helena Brown will be gone after the next city election.
3. Jolanda Jones advice was not targeted specifically to Democrats. It was to anybody being questioned by the police – something that happens to Republicans and Libertarians, too.

With all 3 pension systems (HFD,HPD,Civilian COH) accounting for 9% of the budget, are you also disecting the largely remaining 91% of your budget to find where useless spending and pet projects can be reduced or elliminated????

Mayor: According to a recent report by Wayne Dulcefino, the Sam Houston and Hardy tollways are already paid off. Apparently, there was a vote at city council many years ago that allowed for toll funds to be rerouted to fund other public works projects in perpetuity instead of allowing these roads to become freeways as initially marketed to the public. How can we have this revisited for a vote to allow for these toll roads to become freeways? Can this be presented to voters as a referendum?

I am concerned about the sloppy way the city is becoming more dense. The practice of tearing down a house on a large lot and putting 4-6 townhomes in its place has now spread to the edge of the inner loop and I suspect will soon start outside the loop. Many of these places make no provision for guest parking. Is there some way this can be addressed?

I was stunned when zoning was voted down in 1993. Now, as we grow more dense, I am wondering if it is time to put it back on the ballot? The unregulated increases in density in the Galleria has choked it with traffic at commute time. The Ashby High Rise controversy also comes to mind. I think it might pass this time because the voters now understand the consequences of not having zoning in greater numbers.

With the decision to have the red light cameras taken down why are there still cameras up at intersections in Houston near the Johnson Space Center SE Houston specifically El Camino Real starting at Bay Area Blvd moving north and other areas.

Where do you stand on a fully inclusive diversity clause in the city charter that expands to all people in the COH equal rights in the workplace and also in fair housing. Including not only LGBT but the reverse as well. As it stands someone can discriminate because one is straight if the employer happens to be LGBT. It would be a 2 sided benefit for all in the community.

Can you please address the current “speed trap” tactics being used by HPD? In 4 years of living and working in this city, I have never had an officer so much as look at me crosswise – however in the last 6 months, I have been ticketed during my commute, as has my wife, as has her (extremely soberly driving) father, twice, as have numerous co-workers and friends of both of ours.

HPD are clearly operating speed traps (which I believe is illegal) within city limits, with the same MO. Come out during commute hours, stand an officer in the road, use “visual estimation” (against which there is no legal recourse) to determine you were probably driving at an otherwise safe and reasonable 40mph in a 30, or 45mph in a 35mph over an overpass, and write you a quick-service ticket in 5 minutes or less, without your insurance or details likely being properly checked.

It is an outrage. Police officers are not tax collectors. Commuters are being treated like sheep for the shearing, and paying not only the city out of pocket, but paying their insurance companies, and paying an emotional cost every time their day is ruined and their image of, and trust in, our law enforcement is tarnished.

When HPD won’t respond in a timely manner (or at all) to minor road accidents and thefts, why are they allowed to stand in the road writing immoral, and extremely-borderline-legal tickets?

When the biggest criminals in the day-to-day lives of many Houstonians are the police force, what effect do you think that has on the public trust and perception? Do you think that’s healthy for our fair city?

Please address this issue. It is one that is easily changed with a stroke of your pen. Thank you.

Ian, please provide more details as to how you define a “speed trap”. I’ve seen a few of these locations over the years and unlike other communities, HPD is in plain view, the speed signs are properly posted, and they are using their visual estimates in conjunction with Lidar or radar gear (as is required throughout the state of Texas).

The tickets the write for 10 MPH over the limit are not indicative of the actual speed you were traveling since they round down, any ticket written over that amount tends to cost you more in court. If you believe a speed zone is too low, by all means petition the city to change it or request a copy of the certified speed study, the studies not performed by the police.

As far as priorities are concerned, a great many more citizens die or are injured due to speed and traffic related matters than murders, the number of police assigned to traffic enforcement miniscule compared to the number of officers comprising the police force as a whole (less than 2% of the entire department are so assigned). I get it that some people think speeding should be legal but most people obey the law or at least make an attempt to slow down. If you think the law allowing an officer to write a ticket for someone speeding is wrong, by all means take it up with the legislature next year.

I participated in the USA vs. Italy rugby match at the Dynamo Stadium. What a great facility and venue – does Houston have additional plans to attract more Olympic activities? Hats off to the administration for this great facility and the local support. I had a great time spending money in my city!!